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J. Joksimović: There is no need to introduce negative expectations

Commenting on the fact that the EU budget until 2027 does not contain the enlargement line, Minister of European Integration Jadranka Joksimović has emphasised that there is no need to introduce negative expectations.
“However, if a country, for example Serbia, is ready for membership, its accession will be made possible,” Joksimović has said for today's issue of Politika.

She has explained that the new EU budget did not envisage a specific line for new enlargement, given that no candidate country is currently about to accede to the Union.
“This means that if one of the candidate countries, for example Serbia, is ready for membership, its accession will nevertheless be enabled, because the Lisbon Treaty defines mechanisms for allocating funds so that a new EU member state can access all EU programmes as a full member,” the Minister has said.

According to her, the last time that happened was in 2013 in case of Croatia.
“Even the EU budget for that period did not envisage funds for enlargement, but they were momentarily allocated”, said Joksimović.

The Minister of European Integration has stated that through the Enlargement Strategy, the EC directly committed itself to providing financial assistance to candidates and potential candidates in six areas - rule of law, migration and security, infrastructure connectivity, digital agenda, socioeconomic development and the process of regional reconciliation.

She has further stressed that these are the funds which are, in addition to IPA funds, intended for the preparation of candidate countries for EU accession.
“We should be guided by our own interests, remain on our European path, bring new foreign investors, be a stable state in an environment that is not always favourable; we are the ones showing the strength for stability and responsible politics that is in the interest of our citizens”, Joksimović has said.
“Our responsibility is to do our job, to use all the instruments and money available to us for achieving sustainable development of the state and citizens. The European path will bring us stability in the coming years, as well as substantial grants, and I do not see why we should not use it,” concluded the Minister of European Integration.